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CIRCULAR KNITTING MAGJEIINF` Patented Mar. l5., 1887.

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UNITED` STATESk PATENT trice.

JOHN BYFIELD, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE BYFIELDMANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

CIRCULAR=KNITTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0.359,556, dated March 15,1887.

Application filed November 30,1885. Serial No. 184,249. (No model.)

To all whom it' may concern.-

Beit known that I, JOHN BYFIELD, of Lowell, in the county of Middlesexand State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and use- 5 fulImprovement in Circular-Knitting Machines, of which the following, takenin connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of circu- I lar knitting machines inwhich barbed or spring needles are used, and in' which two or more yarns`oi" different colors are or may be used for knitting striped goods, andit is an improvement upon the inventions described I in the LettersPatent Nos. 311,172 and 311,173,

granted to me January 27, 1885; and it consists in certain attachmentsto said machines, whereby they are adapted to knitting plain stripes, acombination of .plain and broken 2o stripes, or dotted wo1k,at thepleasure of the operator, all of which will be readily understood byreference to the description of the drawings and to the claims to behereinafter given.

Figure-1 of the drawings is a plan of a machine embodying my invention.Fig. 2 is a vertical section of a portion of the machine, the cuttingplane being through the center of the star-box for carrying theordi1iary.press 3o er-wheel,7 on line 1 1 on Fig. 1, and showing theordinary and tuck presser-wheels and the star-box for the tuckpresser-wheel in eleva` tion. Fig. 3 is a vertical section through aportion of the bed and the star-box of the or- 3 5 dinary presserwheel,and showing the devices for locking the ordinary presser-Wheel in aretracted position and releasing the same in elevation. Fig. 4 is atransverse vertical section on line 2 2 on Fig. 1, looking toward theright hand of said Fig. 1. Fig. 5is a diagram illustrating the action ofthe special presser-Wheel upon the needles; and Fig. 6 is a sectiononline 3 3 on Fig. 3, but showing a portion of the lever-operating barin plan.

In the drawings, A is the bed of the machine; B, the needle-cylinder; C,the .landing-wheel5 D, the knocking-over wheelf E, the stitch wheel F,the dividingwheeh7 G, the push-back;77 H, H', H2, and

H3, the yarn-guiding levers; I, I, I2, and I3, 5o the reciprocating barsfor operating and con` trolling the yarn-guiding levers; J, the bar forcontrolling the operations of the yarn severing `and holding devices; K,the bar that carries the yarn-severing knife, and K the clamping-jaw forholding the end of the severed yarn, all of the above being constructed,arranged, and operating substantially as described in said LettersPatent No. 311,173, it being understood that the bars I, I', l2, and I360 may be operated and controlled in their movements by a pattern-chain,vas described in said Letters Patent No. 311,172, by the scroll-patternwheel and its accessories, as described in the Letters Patent No.311,173, before cited, or by a pattern-cylinder of well-knownconstruction, a portion of which is shown at K2, Fig. 1.

The yarn-guides and the yarn severing and holding devices may beoperated and con- 7o trolled as described in either of the abovecitedLetters Patent, and as the manner of operating and controlling themovements of the reciprocating bars, the yarn-guides, and the yarnsevering and holding devices forms no part of my present invention, itneed not be further described here.

The machine constructed as so far described is adapted to knit asuccession of plain stripes of two to four colors; but the object of mypresent invention is to vary the work by knitting plain stripesalternating with broken stripes or rows of dots, or a series of rows ofdots or dashes of one color in a plain field of another color; and tothis end Iuse, in combination with the ordinary presser-Wheel, L, aso-called tuck presser-wheel,7 M, mounted upon a suitable star-box, M,in a position beneath the wheel L, with its upper face in closeproximity to the under face of said wheel L, and provide means forautomatically vretracting the wheel L from contact with the needles a a,locking it in said retracted position, and releasing it again to causeit to come in con= tact with and act upon said needles, as will now bedescribed.

The adjusting thumb-nut L on the star-box L2 has formed in itscircumference a groove,

b,with which one end of the lever N, fulcrumed upon the post N',engages, the opposite end of which lever is pressed by the spring jagainst the inner end of the bar O, located just above the bars I, I',I2, I3, and J, and fitted to slide in bearings O' O', as shown in Figs.l and 4.

The bar O has set therein the stop-pin c, which engages with the outerbearing, O', to limit the outward movement of said bar, and said bar hasformed in its under edge four rectangular notches, d d' di d3, arranged,respeetively, over the bars I, I', I2, and I, as shown in Fig. 4.

I? I? are wedge-like cam-bloeks secured to the upper edges of said barsI, l', I`, or I3, one or more, by means of a screw, e, passing through aslot, f, in each of said canrbloeks and screwed into the bar I, I', I,or I3, so that said cam-block may be adjusted toward or from the bar O,as shown in Fig. l.

One or more of the cams I? may be used and may be secured to either ofthe bars I, I', I2, or I3, according to the design to be produced, andwhen a bar carrying a eambloek, P, is moved toward the right of Fig. lthe inclined cam-surface on the forward end of the eamblock engages withthe side wall of the notch in the bar O corresponding to the bar beingmoved, and moves said bar O toward the lever N, thereby moving saidlever about its fulcrum, and retracting the presser-wheel L or removingit from contact with the needles.

W'hen the bar O has reached the limit of its movementtoward the lever N,the latch g, pivoted to one of the bearings O, engages with a notch, 7i,cut in the vertical side of the bar O to lock it in such position, whereit remains, holding the presser-wheel L in its retracted position untilthe next movement of the bar J toward the right hand of Fig. l, when thepin i, set in the side of said bar, comes in contact with the end of theangularly-projecting arm f/ of the latch g and disengages said latchfrom the notch h, when the reaction of the spring j in the star bosr Lwill move the presser-wheel L into contact with the needles again.

The presser-wheel M has formed in its edge two series of notches, whichengage with the needles as the needle head or cylinder revolves, oneseries, k, being eut to such a depth that the needles received thereinwill not be pressed by said wheel, and, as a consequence, the stitchwill not be knit, and the other series, Z, being of much less depth, thebeards will be pressed so as to spring the needle inward, just the sameas if acted upon by the ordinary presser-wheel, and the stitch will beknitted.

The presser-wheel M (shown in the drawings) has the notches in its edgearranged in the order of one deep notch .7a to two shallow notches Z, sothat when the presser-wheel L is removed from contact with the needlesevery third stitch will be skipped or will not be knit; but it isevident that the notches may be arranged in any other desiredcombinationas, one and one, two and two, three and one, or three andtwo-without affecting the principles of my invention.

When it is desired to knit plain stripes, it is only necessary to removethe cam-blocks I? P from the bars I, I, I2, or I3, as the case may be,when the presser-wheel L will remain constantly in contact with theneedles, all of which will have their beards pressed and be deflectedfrom their vertical or normal position, and every stitch will beknitted, the presser-wheel M having no effect upon the needles when thewheel L is in contact with the needles.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States, is

l. In combination with a revolving needlecylinder carrying a series ofbearded or spring needles arranged in a circle, a tuck presser'- wheelprovided in its periphery with two series of notches of differentdepths, and arranged to revolve constantly in contact with the needles,a plain presser-wheel located so as to press upon the needles in aboutthe same radial line as the tuck presser-wheel, and in close proximitythereto, a series of pattern controlled and operated reciprocating bars,a pivoted lever connected at one end to the support of the plainpresser-wheel, a spring arranged to press its other end toward saidreciprocating bars, a notched bar arranged at right angles and in nearproximity to said reciprocating bars, with one end in contact with thespring-pressed arm of said lever, and a cam-wedge formed upon or securedto one or more of said reciprocating bars in positions to act upon saidnotched bar when reciprocated, and thereby cause the plain presserwheelto be moved away from contact with the needles in a direction radial tothe axis of the needle-cylinder.

2. In combination with a revolving needlecylinder and a series ofbearded or spring needles mounted thereon, the tuck presserwheel M, theplain presser-wheel L, the lever N, connected at one end with thesupportingarm of the wheel L, a series of pattern-con trolled bars, acam-block, P, on one or more of said bars, the notched bar O, arrangedto act upon the lever N, a locking-latch for holding said plainpresser-wheel in its retracted position, andthe bar J, provided with adevice for retraeting said latch to release said wheel and allow it toagain press upon the needles, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my naine to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 21st day of November,A. D. 1885.

JOHN BYFIELD.

fitnessesz N. C. LOMBARD, WALTER E. LOMBARD.

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